Great Ways to Utilize the Nintendo Switch’s Portability From Within Your Home

I have a confession to make – I am madly in love with the Nintendo Switch right now. This magical device has been such a joy to play, and part of my enjoyment is due to how portable it is. Being able to bring my Nintendo Switch to almost everywhere I go has allowed me to use the small “pockets” of free time that I find throughout my everyday life for playing video games, which in turn has helped me make progress in the games that I play much faster than if I were playing on a traditional home console.

But not everyone is sold on the Nintendo Switch’s portability. One particular contention that I keep hearing from those who do not believe in the Nintendo Switch is that they do not travel outside the house frequently. There are also those who say that they don’t want to play or don’t see themselves playing video games while travelling.

These are perfectly valid concerns. But what these people don’t realize is that the Nintendo Switch’s portability isn’t just for taking the device outside the house – this feature solves so much more than that. And that’s what I’d like to talk about today: four scenarios, or situations wherein the Switch’s portability can be really handy.

In Your Very Own Living Room – When Someone Else Wants to Use the TV

While there are households with more than one TV, I think it’s still pretty common for anyone not living alone to have issues when it comes to using TVs, especially in a room that people want to hang out in. This includes couples, siblings, parents to their children, even roommates.

Me and my fiancee? We don’t even need to discuss how we use our TV (we only have one) in the living room. She wants to watch something? She can! I don’t mind, even if I’m in the middle of playing video games. All I need to do is pause my game, take the Switch out of it’s dock and voila! She’s happy, and I’m still happily playing my game.

Because I play games on my Nintendo Switch, my fiancee and I don’t fight over who gets to use the TV.

A particularly wealthy person who owns multiple TVs and home consoles may say “I’ll just save my game, take my game console, and play elsewhere”. I don’t know if anyone will even try to argue that doing that is equally as effortless as taking the Switch out of it’s dock. Sure, you can do Remote Play on the PlayStation 4 if you have a Playstation Vita but I still say that it is not as effortless as the experience that the Switch provides. Plus, you need to buy two devices in order to make that set up work; with the Nintendo Switch, all that you need in order to have this advantage comes inside the box.

One other thing that is only applicable to couples, married or otherwise – there is a difference between playing video games while your partner is watching TV in the same room and being in different rooms altogether. In my experience, being in the same room even if we’re doing different things still counts as spending time with each other – we still get to talk and each other’s immediate presence is still very positive.

In Bed – Just Like Breakfast!

One of the reasons why I fell in love with my Nintendo 3DS is I’m able to play games when I’m in bed. Picking it up after waking up and simply setting it aside immediately before I sleep is so convenient – heck just playing games while lying in your bed comfortably is sooo convenient. Because the Nintendo Switch is also a handheld gaming device, I have the same love for it as I do the 3DS (it’s actually easier on the wrist compared to my heavy New Nintendo 3DS XL).

One big advantage that the Nintendo Switch has versus the Nintendo 3DS (and PS Vita and PSP and other handheld gaming devices are the JoyCons. Please refer to Exhibit A (image from @elmerelmer):

The combination of an accessory that can hold your Switch over your bed and the modular design of the JoyCon makes playing video games in bed 100 times more comfortable! No need to hold anything up with both arms! You can play games in bed with a traditional home console too – except you won’t be lying down on your back comfortably. You’ll either be sitting up, lying on your stomach, halfway between sitting up and lying down, or laying on your side with the TV beside your bed.

It’s just not as comfortable as lying on your back. Although I can admit, with a proper wall mount set up you can even achieve something like this with a PS4 or Xbox one:

I don’t think I need to explain how much different this is from simply playing on a Nintendo Switch, do I?

When Nature Calls – Games on the “Throne”!

Let’s all be honest here. Haven’t you ever had the experience of being in the middle of an intense or very engaging moment in a video game, only your body is telling you that you need to go and you can’t hold it in any longer? What’d you do then? If you have a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, you probably paused your game and went. Or maybe you had enough willpower to keep everything in control, synch up your PS4 and your Vita, and continue on – provided that your bathroom is within range.

Well, a friend of mine experiences this frequently. He’s got a Nintendo Switch too so what he does when playing on his Switch is he pauses his game, turns his TV off, pulls the Switch out of the dock and runs all the way to the bathroom and continues his game there.

Now there is the question of you being able to have enough focus on the game that you’re playing while also doing your business at the same time – that’s a totally different topic and I don’t think I need to go into that in detail.

Playing With Power ANYWHERE – During Power Outages

Okay, so power outages don’t happen that often anymore (at least not as often as when I was still a kid), but when it does happen it can be a bummer. We have UPS devices now that will allow us to turn our devices off properly and save any work/play that we’re doing, and some people live in places with backup power or even have generators. But it is simply not the same as when you’re playing on a Nintendo Switch.

Picture this – you are about to beat the toughest boss in the game that you’re playing but there is an unplanned power outage. You don’t have a UPS – boom, game over. Just start your game again when the power comes back on. If you have a UPS for your console and your TV? Hopefully it’ll last long enough for you to still be able to save your game. You have back up power generators in your place? Good! This doesn’t apply to you.

You have a Nintendo Switch and you’re playing in docked mode? Power goes out, your TV goes out, your dock goes out but the Switch stays on. You might have to quickly pause your game though, but once you have just take it out of the dock and continue playing! You’ll be able to continue your game for hours and if that doesn’t last til the power comes back on, just hook your Switch up to any power bank that everyone seems to have nowadays. Other handheld gaming devices can do the same thing, but they’re not as powerful as the Switch.

And there you have it! Let me take off my Nintendo fanboy hat for a moment and say that each of the current gen consoles have their advantages and disadvantages – there are things that the Nintendo Switch can’t do that the other home consoles can. I just think that the portability is not appreciated by those who are still down on the Switch – portability is more than just being able to play games outside your house, and all the little advantages that the Switch’s portability gives me has endeared this device to me a lot.

Do you still think that compromising power for portability was a bad idea? Or are you now convinced that being portable offers the Switch advantages over it’s competition – even if you don’t take it outside your house? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment or two below!

3 thoughts on “Great Ways to Utilize the Nintendo Switch’s Portability From Within Your Home”

The Switch has so much potential and I play it more now than I ever did my Wii U. Don’t get me wrong, I love mi Wii U but it just isn’t as versatile as the Switch. And with more Wii U games coming to Switch. The less likely I will be picking up my Wii U.

Thanks for the comment! Yes – just this past week I played my Switch at the office with a co-worker, at the airport and on a plane, in bed (docked and handheld mode), in the company car, etc. so I’m getting a lot of gameplay time in each day.